


Another Night On Mars

by sarissa



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 09:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16783945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarissa/pseuds/sarissa
Summary: What's another night on Mars? With friends like ours, anywhere is home...





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Title's and the summary's directly from The Maine's Another Night on Mars

Panic! At the Disco - One of the Drunks

Full disclaimer: I didn’t want to leave the house in the first place but Lola could be pretty convincing sometimes.

It was the first time in weeks that I was outside except school and it sucked already. It wasn’t that I loved my home very much or that I missed it terribly.

I hated my little home, even the thought of it drowned me, thinking about its mess brought me nightmares and I’d be okay anywhere. Expect that was only in theory. It was my home and my only hiding place from life so right now, yeah I missed my home terribly.

Lola Marlow-Delaney, my closest friend in the whole world, was a few steps ahead of me and she was telling me about this club that she managed to sneak us in. I knew if I nod and smile at all the right places, she could go on hours. That was mostly our relationship, she needed an audience for whatever she was doing and I was perfectly happy being her audience. Showlights were something I strongly avoided.

Finally we stopped before a big black door that was guarded by an equally big guy. That wasn’t shady at all, sure. Lola said something to the guy and I was somehow impressed when he opened the door for us.

“Last year the place was robbed and my dad was the chief detective on the case. They like him a lot since then.” Lola explained to me. One of her dads was a detective in the police department and I roughly remembered something about a nightclub robbery.

A quick hallway lead us to a wide room full of dancing people and Lola’s face lit up as if that was the best thing she’s ever seen.

“I will go get us something to drink.” I yelled over the loud music and she gave me a thumbs up. I knew I wouldn’t see her for a long time this night.

Although this wasn’t our first rodeo so she knew where to find me at the end of the night. For my luck the loud song changed into another loud song as I made my way to the bar and I started to humming the lyrics.

After finding a tall stool to sit on I waited for a bartender to notice me. I had no rush ordering and it was so tiring to try to get a bartender’s attention. One came before me when the song nearly finished and I ordered a screwdriver for the song’s honour.

The black haired guy was quiet for a bartender and he seemed as if the orange juice in his hand personally offended him. When he put a orange napkin in front of me and the tall glass I couldn’t help but asking.

“Are you okay?”

He seemed surprised by my question and when his eyes darted up it was like he just noticed me. “Always.” he replied but it seemed bullshit. I really don’t know why I didn’t let it go but somehow he seemed like a person that shouldn’t be sad.

“Are you sure?” I kept asking. Now he was more annoyed than sad.

“Shouldn’t bartenders be the ones who pry into other people’s lives?”

I was taken aback with this and he had a point to be honest. “Sorry, man, you do your thing.” I replied and turned around in my stool to watch people dancing totally out of beat from the song. A few minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw him with a colorful drink in his hand that would make rainbows jealous.

“Sorry, I was a bit rude before.” He put the drink to the counter and pushed it to me. “That looks very cheerful.” I smiled and pointed at his peace offering. It was hard to see in the dim lights of the club but I think he blushed. “It’s on the house.” he said.

I took a sip trying not to disturb the color scheme and the taste was very surprising. “I thought it would be sweeter.”

“Wait till you reach the top.” he said. “I’m Charles.” he added.

“Nice to meet you Charles.” I smiled. “Sophie”

Before he could say anything a group of very excited girls -a bachelorette party I realized from the crown one of them wore- filled the empty spots near the bar and rapidly gave their orders. I went back to my people watching and noticed Lola in the middle of the dance floor. She danced carelessly, unaware of her surroundings and what’s going around her yet beautifully. Her moves had a grace she couldn’t shake up after years in training even though she was dancing to a trashy pop song, she still looked like a prima ballerina. Somehow she saw me when I waved at her and pointed at my drink while still rocking her hips to the beat. I rolled my eyes but she was already lost again in her own world. I sighed and turned back to see if Charles finished his orders but he was nowhere to be seen. For a moment I thought I had my perfect young adult book moment where the girl meets a boy and they had a very magical-or-interesting-or-excited chain of events that lead them to fall in love. But of course it wasn’t real and I wanted to roll my eyes at myself but something similar to disappointment stopped me. Just I was about to leave the bar to explore the different parts of the club, I saw the door at the back of the bar that said ‘Employees Only’ opened and he came out. His eyes were searching something and he smiled when he found what he was looking for.

“My shift’s over. Wanna grab something to eat?” he asked. I shouldn’t be this happy but I was so I shrugged. “Will you tell me why you were sad?”

He laughed then shrugged back. “Maybe.”

“Okay then, I have to let my friend know first, though.” I replied. He said he’d wait me at the door and I nodded then tried to find Lola in the dance floor again.

Maybe this was my book moment after all. Who could’ve known?


	2. Two

I found him waiting by the door when I came out from the club. I didn’t realize how much I missed fresh air and took a deep breath. If I was more cheesy I’d would say the night air smelled like hope and opportunities and whatever but it smelled like car fumes and something awful because of the garbage can on the next alley. I was only mildly cheesy so I thought even the polluted air was nice.  
He waved at the big guy waiting on the big door and then turned to me.

  
“So?” Charles asked and I felt like I saw him for the first time. Somehow the road at the middle of the night was brighter than the club and I saw him clearly. He was smiling and I noticed he was one of the people who smiled with their whole beings. His dark brown eyes seemed lighter in the orange street light and I felt like smiling, too, for no reason.

  
“So what?” I asked back just to say something.

  
“What do you wanna eat?”

  
“That is a question you should never ask me. I eat almost anything and I can never decide anything.”

  
“I have an idea that we will get along quite nicely Sophie.” he replied still smiling and I liked my name on his tongue.

  
Okay, maybe I wasn’t mildly cheesy at all.

“Do you like pizza?” he asked and raised one of his eyebrows.

  
“Of course.” I said as if the question offended me and that made him laugh.

  
“I know a little place down the street that makes amazing pizzas.”

  
“Oh, I think I know it. Raph’s or something like that, right?” One of my close friends, Marco, first took me there and I fell in love with both the place and the pizzas. The small pizzaria was owned by even a smaller Italian man and he was the sweetest person in the world. “I don’t know if it’s open in this hour though.”

  
“It is, I sometimes stop at it when I finish my shift.” He put his hands to his pockets and explained. “His son takes over at nights.

  
“I didn’t know he had a son.”

  
“He was my classmate.” He shrugged like it was unimportant. I nodded and we started walking. We walked in silence till the corner and then we spoke on the same time.

  
“Why were you sad back there?”  
“I like the city at night the most.”

  
This made us laugh and he mockingly rolled his eyes. “You’re not gonna let it go, right?”

  
Suddenly I felt like I was being too noisy and tried to take it a notch back. “I’m sorry if it’s private. You don’t have to explain anything.” My shoes and the sidewalk were very much interesting at the moment. “It just seemed weird on you, somehow. Sadness I mean.” Okay my shoes were definitely very very interesting.

  
I thought he was going to start to a different sentence but stopped when I continued. “It’s okay.” He smiled again. I wished he smiled less.

  
“I have a sister, Cecilia. We normally got along very well but we had a little fall out before I left for work. That killed my mood a little.”

  
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. I always encouraged people to speak with me with my endless questions and prying but I could never find the appropriate answer reaction to their words. Lola on the other hand was the opposite of me. She could always find the right thing to say to the right person. I wanted to be more like her.

  
“It’s okay now though. We can’t stay mad at each other for a long time. She texted me while I was stacking the shelves on the back. Wait.” He fished out his phone from his back pocket and searched for something to show me. “That was how we made up.” It was a meme I saw on Twitter before but I laughed anyway.

  
“It seems like a good way.” I said and my finger touched the back button as I tried to hold the phone. I saw the chat with his sister and her profile photo caught my eye.

  
“Wait a minute.” I stopped suddenly. “Is your sister Cecilia Belmont?”

  
Charles facing me, too. “Yeah that’s her unless she has both a name-sake and a surname-sake at the same time.”

  
“I’m pretty sure the people who share the same last name aren’t called surnamesakes.”

  
He seemed lost for a second but then laughed. “Do you know my sister?”

  
“Yeah I think I do. We might go to the same school, Wildwood High?”

  
He nodded. “That’s where I graduated, too. But I was a senior when Cece started.”

  
“I moved here when I was a sophomore.” But I didn’t tell him that I kind of knew him. Our lockers were side by side with Cece and she was so sweet that you have to be a rock to not to be friends with her. Then she had a project with Marco and we sometimes hung out together, all of us. I remembered bits and pieces about her mentioning a brother but didn’t really pay attention at the moment.

  
“Small world.” he said as we reached to our destination. If it wasn’t for the little bell on the door, Charles definitely made sure the owner realized we were there.

  
“Frankie!” his voice echoed through the empty place and drew out the young man in the back.

  
“Charlie! Welcome!” He had flour on the tips of his curly auburn hair but he didn’t seem like minding it when he crushingly hugged Charles. I left them to their catching up and went to check out the photos on the wall again. There were photos of customers on the wall; small children, big groups, lonely eaters... Even though I knew most of them by now, it always seemed like more was added. Just as I expected there was a photo of a white cat and a blue haired girl eating together on a table by the window. I always wanted to ask Raph who took the photos but never worked up the courage.

  
“Who takes these?” I suddenly asked. Tonight’s theme must be what the hell.

  
Frankie looked like he just noticed me and his blue eyes shone brighter.

  
“He does.” he pointed at Charles. “Whenever he comes.”

  
He was watching me and I realized he was waiting my opinion on the photographs.

“Small world, indeed.” I said only and sat down to the table where the blue haired girl was sitting.

  
“The usual?” Frankie asked Charles and he nodded as he sat in front of me. Then he turned to me and I could see the shift in looks. “Wait do I know you?”

  
“I come usually by the afternoon. Your dad probably knows me.” I said. He just shrugged and I gave my order. Pepperoni, mushroom, corn.

  
“Corn?” Charles asked in disgust.

  
“I hope you put pineapple in your pizza so that I could judge you even harder.”

  
His laughter echoed between the walls.

“Believe me that’s a big deal breaker for me, too.”

  
I took the salt shaker from where it stood and started to play with it. “So you’re like a photographer or you only like to take pictures of people eating?”

  
“I take normal photos, too.” He made air quotes around normal. “But taking photos while people are eating is more fun.”

  
“That sounds like a solid hobby.” I chuckled.

  
“I always liked to take photos and I got more serious about it after Cece got my first camera as a birthday present.”

  
“That’s very sweet.” I replied.

  
Frankie came with our pizzas after a while and I found out he didn’t put pineapples in his pizza.

  
Charles finished before me and leaned back in his chair as crumpled a napkin and threw it to his plate. I was lost in my last slice when I realized the took his phone out and held it to my face.

  
“Hey!” I protested. I didn’t have any problem with my photo being taken but somehow I was a bit embarrassed now.

  
“What, I have to take it before you finish eating. Otherwise the photo would be no good.” He protested back. I rolled my eyes and held the pizza to my face like a mask while smiling absurdly. I heard the snap sound and lowered the slice to my plate. He was tapping something on the screen and then showed the photo to me. He added some filters and changed a couple lighting settings. I have to be honest, the photo looked nice. The girl looked funny and carefree and I wanted to believe that I looked like that girl.

We said goodbye to Frankie and left the pizzaria. I checked my phone and saw a text from Lola that said she was at home. None from my parents. That didn’t surprise me.

“Now what?” he asked. I didn’t want to go home yet and I told him that.

“Okay” he said and I could see he was trying to come up with something. “What’s your opinion about amusement parks?” he finally said.

  
“I don’t like them. Not like wait that’s wrong. I don’t trust them.” I replied. That was true. I had no problem with heights or adrenalin or whatever else the amusement parks should be about. But I don’t trust the machines or the operators or the electricity. What would happen if you were on the ferris wheel and the power went out just as you reached the top? Or you were upside down on a rollercoaster and your buckle suddenly unlocked? Of course I didn’t say all of these to him but still I didn’t trust amusement parks.

  
“How about bowling?” I said and he seemed surprised.

  
“I don’t remember the last time I went bowling, we used to go so much when we were kids.”

His face lightened up with the idea and I felt proud with coming up with it.  
I took my hand from my pocket and mockingly offered my arm to him. “Let’s go to bowling then.”

  
He curtseyed and accepted my arm. “Lead the way, my lady.”


End file.
